The ever-shifting world of college football scheduling has caused adjustments to Georgia Tech’s upcoming non-conference schedules.
Tech has changed the years of one of its Notre Dame games and a two-game series with South Florida. The school has also added a home game with Bowling Green State.
Also, the team lost one of its remaining two games with Tulane and may drop the other.
Tech was scheduled to play Notre Dame at Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2019, the first time the Yellow Jackets would face the Irish in Atlanta since 2006, but will move the game to Nov. 14, 2020 (two weeks before the Georgia game). The remaining games with Notre Dame, part of the school’s agreement to play an average of five ACC games annually, will remain in 2021 (in South Bend, Ind.) and 2024 (Atlanta).
The Notre Dame home game moving to 2020 benefits Tech by giving the home schedule more balance, as the Jackets play Georgia in Athens that year.
Tech also had a home-and-home series with South Florida originally scheduled for 2021-22 that will be moved up to 2018 (Tampa, Fla.) and 2019 (Atlanta). Both games will take place in the second week of the season.
Tech has added a home game with Bowling Green State for 2018, which will be the first meeting with the Mid-American Conference school. It will be played Sept. 29.
Lastly, Tulane has canceled its 2018 game with Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Tulane is contractually obligated to pay Tech $300,000 for the cancellation. That leaves one game remaining in the four-game series begun in 2014, a 2019 game in New Orleans. Tech is considering canceling that game.
Tech senior associate athletic director John David Wicker said that he is close to scheduling guarantee games, likely against FCS opponents, for 2018 and 2019.
The changes were made for multiple reasons. Tulane bought out the 2018 game because it was offered a game against Ohio State that year. That change prompted Wicker to look to South Florida to move the series, a switch that proved beneficial for USF, also. The Notre Dame game was moved at the request of ACC and Notre Dame, and the Bowling Green State game was also involved in that switch.
Including the Georgia game, Tech has two non-conference games against power-five conference games (or Notre Dame) for all but two years through 2026 — Tennessee (2017), Notre Dame (2020, 2021, 2024), Mississippi (2022, 2023) and Colorado (2025, 2026). Wicker said that an additional power-conference game is unlikely for 2018, when Tech has two games against “Group of 5” conference teams USF and Bowling Green State. It’s possible for 2019, with USF on and Tulane probably falling off.
Tech’s standard scheduling model for non-conference games is to play two games against power-conference teams (including Georgia), one against a Group of 5 conference team and one against an FCS opponent.
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